Water on Moon and Earth came from meteorites: new study

phys.org...

The moon is thought to have formed from a disc of debris left when a giant object hit the Earth 4.5 billion years ago, very early in Earth's history. Scientists have long assumed that the heat from an impact of that size would cause hydrogen and other volatile elements to boil off into space, meaning the moon must have started off completely dry. But recently, NASA spacecraft and new research on samples from the Apollo missions have shown that the moon actually has water, both on and beneath its surface. Read more at: phys.org...

The finding is not necessarily inconsistent with the idea that the moon was formed by a giant impact with the early Earth, but presents a problem. If the moon is made from material that came from the Earth, it makes sense that the water in both would share a common source, Saal said. However, there's still the question of how that water was able to survive such a violent collision.

We have all probably heard there may be frozen water in some corners of craters on the moon. The article surmises there is a strong possibility there is underground water on the moon....

If the moon formed by collision as popular belief says I personally feel having underground water would be very problematic.

Also I can only assume any exposed frozen water on the surface would over the eons would tend to sublimate...

If there is water in quantities which can be extracted then a permanent moon base is not out of the question. Unfortunately it will probably have a Chinese flag on it if their plans go through.....Possibilities are positive if true

"new research from the apollo missions" B.S.

I would have thought the water came from comets that crashed into the Earth. They are mostly ice and isn't meteorites usually rock?

reply to post by buster2010


Yep the old Comet Theron has been accepted and still holds allot of substance for many. NatGeo had a "Where did the water come from" video a few years ago that many believe the water was Comet placed. However this new study has gone to the molecular level to derive their answers. Thanks for the reply

Strange news

Here's what I think...

CO2 + 4H2 → CH4 + 2H2O

Lunar Atmosphere

Argon-40, helium-4, oxygen and/or methane (CH4), nitrogen gas (N2) and/or carbon monoxide (CO), and carbon dioxide (CO2)

The moon as well contains nickel.

en.wikipedia.org...

en.wikipedia.org...

books.google.com... en&sa=X&ei=cVGMUfAp8sLIAYjdgOgB&ved=0CHEQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=Ni%20Nickel%20on%20the%20moon&f=false

I'm not sure about the reality of this, but I'm sure there's something to it. Suggesting, that if there's an atmosphere of any kind and the right ingredients, water is created through chemical reaction. It's not that there was 'always water that survived', rather, the ingredients and proper environment are conducive towards H2O's creation.

No need for meteorites.

and there's me thinking that water would explode in a vacume silly old me

Are they letting the cat of the bag, folks.
Next they'll be saying there could be life on the moon.

Originally posted by billdadobbie
and there's me thinking that water would explode in a vacume silly old me

What does happen to water in a vacuum? Ive never really thought about it until you brought it up

reply to post by 727Sky


Wellll, ... . Mathematically speaking it does Not make sense.

As far as the Earth is concerned, it would take something really HUGE to cover 3/4 of the Earths surface with water. Something Really Really HUGE. Keep in mind that an Ice Cube produces very little water when it is melted..

If Anyone can add some supporting evidence to this theory, then by all means please explain.

Originally posted by Berzerked

Originally posted by billdadobbie
and there's me thinking that water would explode in a vacume silly old me

What does happen to water in a vacuum? Ive never really thought about it until you brought it up

It boils, very quickly and becomes a gas since there is no air pressure, it's boiling temp is very low.

As a layman... lol

I would have to think that this is no suprise.

Originally posted by ShadellacZumbrum
reply to post by 727Sky

 

Wellll, ... . Mathematically speaking it does Not make sense.

As far as the Earth is concerned, it would take something really HUGE to cover 3/4 of the Earths surface with water. Something Really Really HUGE. Keep in mind that an Ice Cube produces very little water when it is melted..

If Anyone can add some supporting evidence to this theory, then by all means please explain.

No argument from me: My first thought again from being a slightly informed lay person is the earth was a hot and almost molten body during the proposed impact that caused the moon to be born. Now, there are about 4 billion tons of space rocks that falls to the earth each year even today. Maybe in the first 500 million? years it was quite a bit more? I don't know I wasn't there....Also as others have mentioned comets might have contributed but according to the article the molecular composition/breakdown of the water did not come from Comets.

The whole article caught me off guard as to how I supposed we got our little blue water planet. Just something to consider into the equation. Interesting research regardless

Originally posted by eriktheawful

Originally posted by Berzerked

Originally posted by billdadobbie
and there's me thinking that water would explode in a vacume silly old me

What does happen to water in a vacuum? Ive never really thought about it until you brought it up

It boils, very quickly and becomes a gas since there is no air pressure, it's boiling temp is very low.

Im ignorant in science so I have to ask, why does it boil in a vacuum?
How does water being in a vacuum increase the temp to 212 F to make it boil?

reply to post by Berzerked

To sum it up very briefly, the boiling point of water is dependent on atmospheric pressure. If you take away atmospheric pressure altogether it will boil even at room temperature. In the process, however, the most energetic molecules will boil off first, leaving less energetic molecules behind. This effect is called evaporative cooling. The end result is that at some point the remaining water will generally freeze into ice crystals, which then may or may not sublimate off into space depending on conditions. If inside a permanently shadowed polar crater, for instance, ice can remain almost indefinitely. Subsurface ice may also be able to survive for extended periods of time, and over time may be cycled up to the surface by churning due to micrometeorite bombardment. This process has been hypothesized by an astronomy professor I knew from college, who also helped discover ice on asteroids.

The article is very techy, so forgive me for asking: does the article actually imply liquid underground water, or just the hydrated minerals, like on Mars?

Originally posted by Berzerked

Originally posted by eriktheawful

Originally posted by Berzerked

Originally posted by billdadobbie
and there's me thinking that water would explode in a vacume silly old me

What does happen to water in a vacuum? Ive never really thought about it until you brought it up

It boils, very quickly and becomes a gas since there is no air pressure, it's boiling temp is very low.

Im ignorant in science so I have to ask, why does it boil in a vacuum?
How does water being in a vacuum increase the temp to 212 F to make it boil?

ngchunter explained it quite well, but in case you still do not understand, let me try to put it in simpler terms (not saying you can't understand what he said, but people might still be confused).

We normally say that matter has 3 states: Solid, Liquid and Gas. When water is ice, it's solid, in your glass while drinking it, it's a liquid, and when in a pot and we heat it, it will turn into a gas (water vapor) by boiling it.

A rock can be the same, but of course it takes much higher temps to turn it into a liquid, and even more so to turn it into a gas.

A large part of that is pressure from the air. Think of it as squeezing the water which keeps it in a liquid state. When we heat it to 212 deg F or 100 deg C we overcome the air pressure's ability to keep it as a liquid.

That means if you lower the air pressure, it will take less heat to overcome that "squeezing" I mentioned.

Here is a link that is a online calculator to figure out what the boiling point of water is at different air pressures:

Water Altitude Boiling Point Calculator

The boiling point of water at sea level is 212 deg F. However, if you go to Denver, CO at 1 mile up in the air, the boiling point drops to 202 deg F.

If you go to the top of Mt. Everest at 5 miles up, that boiling point drops to 155 deg F.

On Mars, the atmospheric pressure is only 0.00636 millibars making the water's boiling point at -376 deg F, and since Mars doesn't get that cold, any water will boil away (liquid water).

So in space, with 0 pressure, the boiling point for water is below absolute zero (as cold as you can ever get), so the moment it's in a vacuum, it boils away.

There are a few things to point out: things in water (IE like salt) can change that boiling / freezing points. Also, if the temps are cold enough, the water won't have a chance to boil completely away, but will instead quick freeze. This is because all the heat it has is removed quickly, even though the freezing point changes, and again depends on what is in the water.

Hope this helps anyone reading.

There probably was other planets before in the solar system between Mars and Jupiter where the asteroid belt now is.

Legends like the Niberu one could actually be history!

Now all they have to figure out is that a lot of our oil also came from the hydrocarbons in meteorites, and people can stop with all the nonsense about us "running out of oil" anytime soon.

reply to post by 727Sky


Old news. This is an article from July last year:

Asteroids from the inner solar system are the most likely source of the majority of Earth's water, a new study suggests.

The results contradict prevailing theories, which hold that most of our planet's water originated in the outer solar system and was delivered by comets or asteroids that coalesced beyond Jupiter's orbit, then migrated inward.

"Our results provide important new constraints for the origin of volatiles in the inner solar system, including the Earth," lead author Conel Alexander, of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, said in a statement. "And they have important implications for the current models of the formation and orbital evolution of the planets and smaller objects in our solar system."

Source: space.com

And another from 2010:

Astronomers have for the first time detected ice and organic compounds on an asteroid, a pair of landmark studies released on Wednesday says.

The discovery bolsters the theory that comets and asteroids crashing into Earth nearly four billion years ago seeded the planet with water and carbon-based molecules, both essential ingredients for life.

Working separately, two teams of scientists using NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii found that the 24 Themis, which orbits the sun between Mars and Jupiter, is literally covered in a thin coating of frost.

It had long been suspected that the massive space rocks that bombarded our planet after the formation of the solar system contained frozen water, but the two studies, published in Nature, provide the first hard evidence.

Source: news.discovery.com

reply to post by eriktheawful


Thanks for the simpler explanation but let me ask this... How can those ice crystals form that NASA always claims are mistaken for UFO's if water boils away in space?